Setup OpenSSH Server on Ubuntu Linux

by Lowell Heddings on

Setting up an SSH server on Ubuntu is about as simple as it gets. The server of choice is OpenSSH.

Run this command from a terminal window:

sudo apt-get install ssh

To test that it’s working, you can try to ssh into your own machine:

> ssh localhost

The authenticity of host ‘localhost (127.0.0.1)’ can’t be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 98:8a:b8:b2:9e:8a:84:e0:d4:08:27:fb:74:f0:de:d4.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

Looks like it’s working! Naturally our ssh client doesn’t have the key for the server, since we just installed it. You can type yes to continue or just hit Ctrl-C to stop.

Lowell Heddings is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of How-To Geek. He spends all his free time making sure this site can bring you fresh geekery on a daily basis, and has been doing so for over eleven years.